Kudos to BBJ & Best Green Practices Awardees!
In the May 11-17 edition of the Boston Business Journal the winners of the BBJ’s Best Green Practices Awards to companies and individuals who are leading the way in sustainability. Kudos to the winners as well as to BBJ for being a supporter and promoter of sustainability and the Green Economy!! The articles on the award winners highlight that sustainability saves the environment as well as money and that the Green Economy is full of innovation and economic development opportunities.
WORKPLACE: BNY Mellon & OMBE Center
EMERGING LEADER: Israel Ganot
INNOVATION: Gorton’s Seafood, Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino, & EMD Millipore Corp.
INVENTION: FirstFuel Software, XL Hybrids, & Energy Points
DESIGN: Dassault Systemes & National Grid
Clean Energy CAN Create More Jobs IF…
we create policies and take actions that moves us from our dependence on fossil fuels and grows our domestic clean energy economy.
In April, the Center for American Progress release the report Taking Action on Clean Energy and Climate Protection in 2012: A Menu of Effective and Feasible Solutions. Authors Jason Walsh and Kate Gordon make a strong argument that the clean energy economy is growing, but has the potential to grow even more if we all implement the solutions they list.
By transitioning our energy infrastructure from capital-intensive, risky, and often highly polluting energy sources to clean, labor-intensive energy sources we can create many new jobs, grow our middle class, ensure greater energy security, and protect our nation and planet from the predictable ravages of unchecked climate change.
In the Report Appendix pages 66-70, the authors create a simple chart that outlines their solutions under the three goals they outline and break down action steps at federal level, local/state/regional levels, and by private sector. Solutions include things from extending the federal production tax credit for wind to creating industry partnerships that link economic and workforce development in states’ regional economies to prioritizing energy efficiency at corporate headquarters, across stores and manufacturing plants, and in supply chain.
Clean energy jobs are not created in a vacuum, but need the right mix of support at all levels.
This post is by Tricia Maguire, editor of the SkillWorks’ Green Jobs Blog. SkillWorks is a public/private partnership that seeks to address the needs of employers for more skilled workers and of workers for more and better access to jobs that pay a family-supporting wage.
Recycling Report Released & Globe Coverage!!
SkillWorks, the Environmental Business Council of New England, and MassRecycle released the report, Recycling and Jobs in Massachusetts: A Study of Current and Future Workforce Needs just in time for Earth Day this past Sunday, April 22.
The Boston Globe covered the report release in their Business section on Saturday, April 21st: Recycling industry poised for hiring: Workers already in short supply, study reports.
Report highlights:
- MA has over 2,000 recycling companies that employ close to 14,000 people with a payroll approaching $500 million annually.
- Recycling activities include collection, processing, remanufacturing, organics management, reuse, and deconstruction.
- Despite the slow economy, the private sector projects 10% growth or adding over 1,200 new jobs in the next 2 years and the public sector projects 5% growth.
- Both public and private sector employers reported difficulty finding applicants with relevant technical skills, professional skills, and work experience.
- Recommendations include better connections to the workforce development system, middle skills training to develop career pathways, and a regional economic development approach for the recycling industry.
MassCEC Releases RFQ Yesterday
I know, no posts for weeks and now 2 in one day! But this is regarding available funding for clean energy workforce programs, so I thought it warranted a second post.
Yesterday, the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center released a solicitation for qualifications for workforce capacity building and youth pipeline grants. The MassCEC has up to $850,000 available for these grants.
- Press Release
- Request for Qualifications
- Applications are due February 17, 2012
- Bidders’ webinar: Monday, December 19, 2011
MA Workforce Needs in Water, Recycling & Clean Energy
Wow, it’s been a long time since my last blog! It’s been a busy fall which included organizing yesterday’s SkillWorks convening on MA workforce needs in drinking water/wastewater, recycling, and clean energy.
View 12/12/11 Presentation slides
1) Promoting Entry to Career Pathways in the Drinking Water and Wastewater Sector
This SkillWorks-funded project is taking a preliminary scan of this industry sector’s employment opportunities that will hopefully lead to a full-scale labor market study. A final report will be release in the coming weeks and SkillWorks will put link on blog and website.
- Madeline Snow, Lowell Center for Sustainable
- Deborah Mutschler, Massachusetts Workforce Alliance
2) Recycling and Jobs in Massachusetts: A Study of Current and Future Workforce Needs
This study is supported by funds through SkillWorks, the MA EPA, E.L. Harvey & Sons, Costello Dismantling Company and will release a final report soon which SkillWorks will also add to blog and website.
- Amy Perlmutter, Perlmutter Associates and Environmental Business Council of New England
3) Massachusetts Clean Energy 2011 Employment Survey: Workforce Findings
Workforce findings were shared that complemented the 2011 Massachusetts Clean Energy Industry Report produced for the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center by BW Research Partnership and the New England Clean Energy Council.
- Kevin Doyle, Green Economy and New England Clean Energy Council
This post is by Tricia Maguire, editor of the SkillWorks’ Green Jobs Blog. SkillWorks is a public/private partnership that seeks to address the needs of employers for more skilled workers and of workers for more and better access to jobs that pay a family-supporting wage.
Gov. Patrick Announces Clean Energy Job Growth
Governer Patrick, Secretary Sullivan, and Geoff Chapin at Next Step Living
This afternoon I was at Next Step Living where Governor Patrick and Energy & Environmental Affairs Secretary Sullivan announced the release of the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center’s (MassCEC) 2011 Massachusetts Clean Energy Industry Report.
The report identified:
- 4,909 clean energy companies in MA
- 6.7% increase in jobs between July 2010 and July 2011
- expected employment growth rate of 15.2% from July 2011 to July 2012
Click here for the MassCEC Release
Click here for the full 2011 Massachusetts Clean Energy Industry Report
“Sustainability is an All Hands on Deck Issue”
Andre Pettigrew from the Climate Prosperity Project, Inc. led with this message as part of his plenary presentation at the Institute for Sustainable Communities (ISC) Climate Leadership Academy (CLA) on Sustainable Economic Development this week in Denver, Colorado.
The CLA on Sustainable Economic Development helps local and regional officials work effectively with key private and nonprofit partners and state government counterparts to establish and implement sustainable economic development strategies while simultaneously reducing climate pollution and improving environmental quality.
Other highlights:
- Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins from Green for All gave the 9/13 keynote, “Making the Case for an Inclusive Green Economy”. Phaedra approaches the green economy with the firm belief that everyone deserves a good job and good health. The Gandhi quote, “first they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win“, helps Phaedra deal with climate change opposition because according to Gandhi we are closer to winning!
- James Nixon from Global Urban Development gave a plenary talk about knowing your strengths and building your strategy with the goal of “getting richer by getting greener” which is the tagline of the Sustainable Economic Development (SED) Network. James urged us to focus on the four greens: Green Savings (demand side), Green Opportunities (supply side), Green Places (Geographic side), Green Talent (human resources).
- Christine Ageton from Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE) presented a stellar argument for why buying local matters and gave great local examples that included the positive economic multiplier effects of buying local. “Ownership matters; Community matters; Collaboration and collective action matters – Real prosperity starts here”.
- Andre Pettigrew also led a discussion on “Learning to Speak Sustainability and Economic Development”. Communication matters and messages like: “saving the planet now makes dollars and cents/sense” need to be part of our strategies. Subscribe to Clean Economy Wire – news about clean energy economic development.
A good overall takeaway from the CLA is that sustainable economic development is possible and is profitable for businesses, workers, and the environment. The key is a good marketing strategy highlighting local stories and presenting the case in relatable language or plain speak – not an easy feat!
This post is by Tricia Maguire, editor of the SkillWorks’ Green Jobs Blog. SkillWorks is a public/private partnership that seeks to address the needs of employers for more skilled workers and of workers for more and better access to jobs that pay a family-supporting wage.
How Boston Is Leveraging Its Network To Drive Demand for Clean Energy
by James Hunt on Aug 17, 2011 • 1:01 pm
James Hunt is the Chief of Environment and Energy in the City of Boston.
REPOSTED from NECEC Energy Leaders Forum/MA
Boston is nationally renowned as a leading “green” city, recently ranked the 5th most sustainable city in the US by the Economist Intelligence Unit. Under Mayor Menino’s leadership, Boston has solidified its position as a hub of innovation in energy policy and program development, from our comprehensive climate action strategy to the 1st in the nation green building zoning, as well as new cutting edge clean energy programs emanating from City Hall. From the beginning of the Mayor’s push to green Boston, he has focused his administration on connecting our environmental and energy policy strategies with job creation and economic growth.
Despite the economic challenges facing the US, the clean tech cluster continues to flourish in the Boston region. Clean tech start-ups continue to locate in the Innovation District of the South Boston Waterfront and according to a recent report released by the Brookings Institution, metro Boston is now the 8th largest green economy in the U.S. Yet we need to move beyond simply pioneering new technologies and services to deploying them at scale in homes and businesses across the region.
When it comes to deployment, cities are uniquely organized to play a key role in aggregating demand for clean energy solutions. Municipal government is closest to the people, providing support to countless local organizations and delivering many of the basic services people need in their daily lives. These networks can and should be leveraged to bring clean energy solutions to the people. This is where the intersection of our environmental, energy, social, and economic goals converge, and where the full potential of the clean tech cluster can be realized.
Here’s a few examples of how Boston is aggregating demand for clean energy solutions:
- Renew Boston energy efficiency program – the city is working with local utilities and community based organizations to connect local residents, in particular those harder to reach moderate income families, with energy efficiency services. Over the last year more than 3,300 residents received a home energy assessment and 467 homes were fully weatherized. The city’s residential contractor, Next Step Living, opened its headquarters in the Innovation District and grew from a handful of employees to over 150 today.
- Innovation District Solar Challenge – Boston is driving private-sector adoption of solar PV technologies in Boston as an inaugural city under the US DOE Solar America Cities program, helping property owners capture federal and state incentives for solar. As part of this effort the city is pre-qualifying solar installers for projects to be identified in the growing South Boston waterfront. The goal of the challenge is for businesses and institutions within the South Boston Innovation District to install more than 1MW of solar PV over the next two years.
- Boston Buying Power – after putting our municipal electricity purchase out to competitive bid in 2007, the city worked to bring similar savings to over 1,600 small to medium sized businesses. The city worked with Taylor Consulting to pool these businesses electricity purchase needs. The buying pool is now over 520,000,000 kwh and 35,000,000 therms and has saved over $2 million for these businesses since the launch of the program. As part of the procurement, the city was also able to green the procurement, leveraging 20% in renewable energy for 2011.
Boston is now serving as a living laboratory for cleantech – the place to innovate policy ideas, incubate and grow clean energy companies, create new technologies and services, all while creating local jobs. This is just the beginning for Boston. We will continue to drive demand for other green sector services such as capturing food waste for bio gas conversion, expanding bike sharing, or promoting green infrastructure for storm water management. What other clean tech services are ripe for aggregation? What public-private partnerships are taking shape in other communities? What other networks can be leveraged to catalyze deployment clean tech services?
Let’s continue to leverage city and other networks to drive deployment to realize the full range of benefits of the clean tech cluster for the region.
54.5 mpg by 2025: President Obama Announces New Fuel Economy Standards
Reposted from The White House Blog
President Obama today announced the next phase in the Administration’s program to increase fuel efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas pollution for all new cars and trucks sold in the United States. These new standards will cover cars and light trucks for Model Years 2017-2025, requiring performance equivalent to 54.5 mpg in 2025 while reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 163 grams per mile.
Taken together, the standards established under this Administration span Model Years 2011 to 2025. They will save consumers money, reduce our dependence on oil, and protect the environment:
Savings at the pump
Thanks to the standards, consumers will save an estimated $1.7 trillion dollars in real fuel costs over the life of their vehicles.
By 2025, the standards are projected to save families an estimated $8,200 in fuel savings over the lifetime of a new vehicle, relative to the Model Year 2010 standard.
Cutting oil dependence
As our cars and trucks become more fuel efficient, we will need to use less oil. Over the life of the program, the standards will save an estimated 12 billion barrels of oil – nearly four years’ worth of consumption by light-duty vehicles at current levels.
By 2025, the standards for MY 2011-2025 will reduce oil consumption by an estimated 2.2 million barrels a day – more than we import from any country other than Canada. As the vehicle fleet turns over and older vehicles are replaced with more efficient ones, the oil savings from these standards will grow, ultimately reaching over 4 million barrels a day – nearly as much as we import from all OPEC countries combined.
The MY 2011-2025 standards are critical to meeting President Obama’s goal of cutting oil imports by one-third by 2025, contributing over half the savings needed to meet the President’s goal.
Protecting human health and the environment
The standards will reduce carbon dioxide pollution by over 6 billion metric tons – equivalent to the emissions from the United States last year, or what the Amazon rainforest absorbs in three years.
The standards will protect public health by cutting air pollutants such as air toxics, smog, and soot.
Developed in partnership with auto manufacturers, the State of California, the United Auto Workers (UAW), national environmental organizations and other stakeholders, these achievable and cost effective standards will bring the nation over halfway to the President’s goal of reducing oil imports by a third by 2025. These standards thus represent a key component of the comprehensive energy policy that this Administration has pursued since day one, which aims to increase safe and responsible energy production at home while reducing our overall dependence on oil with cleaner alternative fuels and greater efficiency.
Enough about Weatherization – Let’s talk Solar!!
I am not saying that weatherization is not important, but I feel like green jobs conversations primarily focus on weatherization and I am close to hitting my saturation point!
The recently released U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report, “Careers in Solar Power” gives us a perfect excuse to talk about something other than weatherization. The first few lines of the report point to the huge missed opportunity if we do not start talking solar:
Sunlight is the most abundant source of potential energy on the planet. If harnessed properly, sunlight could easily exceed current and future electricity demand. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, every hour, enough energy from the sun reaches Earth to meet the world’s energy usage for an entire year.
Not to oversimplify, but WOW!! Solar power is clean energy and abundant enough to potentially take care of the world’s energy usage? We definitely need to talk solar and work on making it affordable for everyone.
Once you get past the first part of the BLS report that discusses the technical side of solar power generation, the report devotes many pages to the solar power workforce needs. The workforce implications of increased use of solar are many and run the skills gamut. BLS gives a run down of solar power occupations, job duties, credentials, and wages:
- Scientific Research: physicists; chemists; material scientists
- Solar Power Engineering: materials, chemical, electrical, industrial, and mechanical engineers; computer software developers; engineering technicians
- Manufacturing for Solar Power: semiconductor processors; computer-controlled machine tool operators; welding, soldering, and brazing workers; glaziers; coating and painting machine setters, operators, and tenders; electrical and electronics installers and repairers; electrical and electronic equipment assemblers; industrial production managers
- Solar Power Plan Development: real estate brokers; atmospheric scientists; environmental scientists
- Solar Power Plant Construction: construction managers; civil engineers; construction laborers; construction equipment operators; welders; structural iron and steel workers
- Solar Power Plant Operations: power plant operators; pump operators; electricians; plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters; electrical and electronics installers and repairers; electrical engineers
- Solar Panel Installation and Maintenance: solar photovoltaic installers; site assessors; electricians; plumbers; roofers
This post is by Tricia Maguire, editor of the SkillWorks’ Green Jobs Blog. SkillWorks is a public/private partnership that seeks to address the needs of employers for more skilled workers and of workers for more and better access to jobs that pay a family-supporting wage.
